Who pays?

Of course Obi made a good speech on Tuesday. He almost always gives good speech. This is not new or remarkable. This is his strong suit as a politician. His "strong speeches" should be expected. The downside is that his passion on the podium does not match reality on the ground.

The weirdest part of his rhetoric last Tuesday was the gulf between the man who forced the unread stimulus/debt bill two weeks ago on us was, with a glint in his eye and a grim look on his mug, now telling us we must cut the deficit. Cognitive dissonance, thy name is Obama.

But, doubling back, he then he forcefully moved on to a laundry list of plans. All of which, one presumes, are not free. All the while telling us he does not like Big Government. It makes the head spin.

How and why should we trust this man? He's broken a slew of promises - but continues to glide on to the next speech, the next event, the next airing of the Obama show, unscathed and clearly not troubled.

My theory is that Obama is closer in personality to Hugo Chavez than Ronald Reagan. Psychologically, there is a need to be present at all times. A need to be adored. The inauguration was followed by a campaign style push for the stimulus, rallies and all included, followed by a prime time presser, followed this week by a prime time speech in the easiest major venue on earth. In between was a one day summit on Monday. As if some thing could get done in one day, other than a group reach around of THE ONE.

Will Obama continue this way? Making himself present at all times - invading the prime time airwaves every week? Chavez does in Venezuela.

(Noquarter notes an obvious indicator of his narcissism here. He never mentioned his own cabinet, the Supreme Court, or you and me. This is a small , but telling, detail. We matter to the degree that we adore him. Pods know this instinctively. It is why they attack so viciously. As for me, I simply can not trust a man who is never humble. Funny how much Lincoln gets thrown around by Obama since they share only a home state. Lincoln's fuel as a leader was his humility. Obama's is his narcissism.)

But Obama is not an empty suit. Not at all. He intends to rework the landscape of the U.S., as Chavez has in Venezuela. Barry and Michelle do have an idea of the way things should be. They just rarely come totally clean on what those plans are. By default, he is less mysterious than he was a month ago. But not by much. He really is W's better, smarter, off spring. Doublethink with style.

This is not your father's Orwell.

Think I am wrong? Fine. I certainly could be. But ask one simple question. Who pays? I make no apologies for my old school liberalism. I want the Federal government to do more than the average conservative. LBJ and FDR never neglected the simple question: Who pays? The answer was - we do and the rich pay more. Many did not like that answer, but it was an answer. Social Security, Head Start, the TVA, Nixon's EPA, Eisenhower's interstate highways - all Big Government. All good.

So who pays? We are sitting around a table at an expensive restaurant. The head of the table has just ordered a lovely, expensive meal. Here's our secret: No one at the table brought their wallets. No one has a dime in their pocket. Including the man who just ordered.

Regardless of the calls for sacrifice, he's banking on something for nothing. Why shouldn't he? It has worked so far.

History, as it always does, has other plans for Obama. At best, he'll be our Gorbachev. Scrambling to rewrite the rules of a system that has become untenable. As I've said before, I do not think we can or should "get through this." This is what brought us to the brink.